St. Patrick’s Athletic sit five points off of the top three of the Ireland Premier League after 19 matches. Despite their solid league placement, St. Patrick’s Athletic have struggled and manager Harry Kenny will seek to get his team back to winning ways.
Cork City are 12 points above the relegation zone and despite suffering a defeat last week against Shamrock Rovers, they are in no danger of finishing in the bottom two. At least not right now.
St. Patrick’s Athletic have won just once in their last six league games. Three of those fixtures ended in losses including their most recent match against Dundalk a week ago.
Kenny has watched his side be outscored 8-3 during that six-match span as three matches ended with St. Patrick’s Athletic held scoreless.
Cork City manager John Cotter, like his opposition manager on Friday night, needs to get his side scoring goals. Cork City were defeated 2-0 by Shamrock Rovers last weekend before losing in the League Cup in midweek to Bohemians, 2-0.
The Rebel Army have got scoring from a committee of players this season. Graham Cummins, Conor McCarthy, and Gearoid Morrissey have all tallied three league goals apiece. Cork City have played in 16 matches in all competitions with under 2.5 goals scored.
Cork City’s matches don’t see a lot of goals go into the back of the net. Similarly, St. Patrick’s Athletic match do not feature many goals either. Sixteen of St. Patrick’s Athletic’s matches this term have ended with under 2.5 goals scored.
St. Patrick’s Athletic have relied heavily on the goal scoring touch of Michael Drennan. The forward has tallied six goals in all competitions. Outside of Drennan, the goal scoring has been minimal from St. Patrick’s Athletic’s other players.
Eleven of St. Patrick’s 15 league goals this season have come in the first half of matches. They are fast starters.
In their first match this season against Cork City, St. Patrick’s Athletic’s Drennan tallied a goal in the 30th minute to power them to a 1-0 victory.
The two Irish clubs met a second time this term with the fixture ending in a 1-1 draw. Both of St. Patrick’s Athletic’s and Cork City’s games this season saw penalties.
Recent seasons have seen low scoring games between the sides. Six of the last 10 meetings between St. Patrick’s Athletic and Cork City have ended with under 2.5 goals scored.
Friday night’s fixture will once again be a low scoring game. St. Patrick’s Athletic will continue their great form against Cork City and pick up another valuable three points.